FREDERICTON — Harvest is thrilled to announce that the Backstays are the winners of the 2018 Stingray Rising Stars Competition.

The Saint John based rock band were selected by Harvest’s panel of music industry judges and audience voting during the Stingray Rising Stars Competition in the Atlantic Lottery Barracks Tent today from 2-4 p.m.

[Band] wins national radio airplay, a $2,500 prize donated by Stingray—Canada’s favourite continuous music network—and Harvest, and opens tonight’s Atlantic Lottery Barracks show with Five Alarm Funk.

Other finalists includes Saint John Based EDM band Shrimp Ring, Fredericton based folk-rock band Jerry Faye and Fredericton based EDM band Digital Circus. Each finalist will receive a promotional video of their performance valued at $1500, donated by Stingray and the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival. Each finalist will receive a promotional video of their performance valued at $1500, donated by Stingray and the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival.

“Every year the talent in this competition gets deeper and the energy during the showcase is even more electrifying as we see the best emerging bands our province has to offer,” said Brent Staeben, Harvest’s music director. “Harvest is passionate about supporting the growth of New Brunswick’s music scene and I’m proud we’ve been able to showcase top-calibre homegrown talent for 17 years through the Rising Stars Competition.”